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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wind · rest · field · snap · cue · scale · band · cold

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. band — a music group
  4. scale — in music
  5. cold — not warm
  6. field — a subject
  7. field — farmland
  8. cue — for pool
  9. cue — a hint
  10. wind — moving air
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. cue — a signal
  14. band — a ring
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. wind — moving air
  17. rest — what's left
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. rest — a break
  20. cold — an illness
  21. snap — to click
  22. scale — size or range
  23. rest — what's left
  24. cold — the Cold War

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com